Over 2.13 lakh people, most of them unnamed, are accused in around 200 cases filed with police stations in the capital over the recent violence centring the quota reform movement.
Almost all the cases were filed by police, and in at least 16 of them, between 5,000 and 10,000 people have been accused, records show.
Law enforcers have arrested over 2,500 people, including political leaders, activists and students, in the last 12 days in different parts of the city, according to the court documents.
However, the actual numbers of cases and arrests could be much higher and are likely to rise further as law enforcers continue to raid different neighbourhoods in the capital.
The country witnessed violence on an unprecedented scale over the last week. The peaceful demonstrations turned deadly on July 15 when Chhatra League attacked the protesting students on different university campuses.
In the following days, violence escalated in Dhaka and elsewhere, leaving at least 162 dead as per The Daily Star data. However, the death toll from the violence between agitators, law enforcers, Border Guard Bangladesh members, and ruling party activists, could be much higher as this newspaper could not reach many hospitals, where dozens of critically injured patients were taken.
Also, many families reportedly took the bodies of their loved ones from the scene, and this newspaper could not contact those families.
The Daily Star’s count of the victims is based solely on hospital and police sources.
According to Prothom Alo, at least 210 people were confirmed dead as of yesterday.
The government is trying to bring the situation under its control by imposing night-time curfews, deploying army across the country, and carrying out raids.
Meanwhile, rights activists, family members of those arrested or injured, and political parties are decrying law enforcers’ high-handedness and misuse of power. The government maintains that the cases are based on specific evidence.
CASES FILED IN CAPITAL
Dhaka Metropolitan Police filed 229 cases with 50 police stations as of yesterday.
This newspaper has so far been able to get documents related to 178 cases filed since July 17. The number of accused in these cases is 2,13,834. Of them, only 1,310 were named.
It is not known how many people are accused in the remaining 51 cases.
The unnamed accused leaves room for the law enforcers to arrest anyone they want.
Police had not mentioned any name or number of accused in 60 cases, and in at least two, 10,000 unnamed people were accused.
One of the two cases was filed with Badda Police Station on July 18 over violence near Brac University in Merul Badda area.
The other one was filed with Lalbagh Police Station on July 21 over violence in Azimpur. The accused are unnamed BNP-Jamaat activists.
The Metro rail authorities filed a case against 9,000 unnamed people in connection with vandalism at Mirpur-10 metro station on July 19.
Another case was filed against 8,000, two cases against 7,000, seven against 6,000, and three against 5,000.
Most of the accused face charges of gathering illegally, rioting, assaulting law enforcers, and damaging properties.
ARRESTS IN DHAKA
Police produced 2,506, including 98 yesterday, before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in at least 158 cases between July 17 and July 28.
In 15 cases filed with Jatrabari Police Station, 335 people were arrested. The area saw continuous violence for almost a week starting on July 17.
Mirpur police arrested 168 people under 10 cases while Uttara (east) arrested 164 under 10 cases, Paltan police arrested 145 under eight cases, and Badda police arrested 130 people under four cases.
Mirpur, Uttara, Badda and Paltan areas too witnessed fierce clashes.
Five cases were filed over killing policemen, a student and a police informant. One was filed under Cyber Security Act.
Source: The Daily Star
